As announced, a massive protest march is being planned from Fatehgarh Sahib to Chandigarh to hand deliver the demands of the Sikh community to the Governors of Punjab and Haryana. They include the immediate arrest of Sirsa cult leader Ram-Rahim, and the closure of all of his deras.

The march was initially announced as a resolution from Akal Takht Sahib on May 20th.  According to inside reports, Akali Dal Badal is attempting to marginalize the importance of this march, and has instructed the Jathedars to make this a low key event.  

On the other hand, anti-Badal Panthic organizations plan to come out in force in massive numbers, perhaps sending a clear message to the Badal Dal that Sikh organizations are still in control of the Panthic agenda.

Some of the organizations that have planned to take part in the march include :

Shiromani Akal iDal (Amritsar), Shiromani Akali Dal (Delhi),  Akhand Kirtani Jatha, Dal Khalsa, Damdami Taksal, Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, Sikh Students Federation, Sant Samaj, and other various Jathebandees and members of the Sikh community.

 

The Punjabi Press Reports :

“The Akal Takht has not pardoned dera … Chief … Ram Rahim … and announced to continue the social, religious and political boycott of dera and its followers and asked Shiromani Gurdawara Parbhandak Committee to enforce the decision of vacating deras from Punjab.”

Meanwhile : 

“A delegation of 21 followers of the DSS arrived at the office of the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), the top management body of Sikh shrines, here to put across their apprehensions to its officials.”

“As many as 2000 followers have sought protection from the raging Sikh community, who have demanded the eviction of DSS followers from camps in Punjab.”

“They said that the dubious acts of DSS chief Gurmeet Ram Raheem Singh were true.”

(Source: ANI)

Indian Press reported :

“Top Sikh clerics will meet tomorrow in Amritsar to decide the future course of action in the wake of an apology tendered by the Dera Sacha Sauda chief even as Punjab Police remained on high alert across the state which remained calm today.”

To call the statement released by the Koorra Sauda cult an apology is a direct insult to the Sikh community and our Gurus.

Here are some facts :

• The statement did not come from cult leader Ram-Rahim but from the dera itself.  It has was not signed by any individual.
• It did not mention anything about the Sikh community, or Sri Akal Takht Sahib. In other words, the cult is basically snubbing their nose at the Panth.
• It states that the cult leader did not impersonate Guru Gobind Singh Ji, and this was all a big misunderstanding.
• The issue is not just the impersonation of Guru Gobind Singh Ji, but the mocking of the entire concept of the historic 1699 Amrit Sanchar ceremony from start to finish. The similarities are no coincdence, to call it a  ”big misunderstanding” is a direct insult on the Sikhs’ intelligence. The cult continues to misinterpret, mis-use and twist the Gurbani from Guru Granth Sahib Ji. Can a pathetic unsigned note that does not even make an actual apology to the panth undo the 60 years of damage and beadbi  to the Sikh community ?

NO !

Various Panthic Jatheybandies have outright rejected the recent statement by the Sirsa Sauda Cult, that is being characterized as an apology by the Indian media.

The Dal Khalsa, Shahbaaz Khalsa/GURSIKH, Damdami Taksal, Akhand Kirtani Jatha, the Khalsa Alliance, Akal Federation, Khalra Mission Organization, Shaheed Baba Deep Singh Federation, and other Panthic organizations have rejected the so-called Dera apology.

Shahbaaz Khalsa, Shaheed Baba Deep Singh Federation, and Shahidi Dal International, in a joint press conference, presented original copies of an 8-page souvenir booklet that was printed by the Sauda Cult detailing the April 29th mockery of the Amrit Sanchar ceremony by the cult leader. 

Jathedar Singh Sahib Bhai Ranjit Singh Ji mocked the statement and questioned Parkash Badal about whether the five “granthis” (pro-Vedanti Jathedars) should now go to Ram-Rahim’s Sirsa dera to forgive him or will he come to Akal Takht Sahib for the approval.

Jathedar Sahib suggested that the Sikh community should first straighten our these “Singh Sahibans” and the corrupted politicians who are making a mockery out of Sikh traditions and beliefs and disrespecting Guru Granth Sahib Ji.

Takht Sri Damdama Sahib Jathedar Giani Balwant Singh Nandgarh also openly rejected the apology and according to media reports stated that he would not succumb to pressure from anybody, including Parkash Badal and the SGPC Chief Makkar.

In a related note, Shahbaaz Khalsa representatives questioned why nobody has been arrested in connection to the murder of Shaheed Bhai Kanwaljit Singh at Salabatpura.  “How come the Badal government and the Akalis are silent about this ? Why have not they lauched an inventigation into how Bhai Kanwaljit Singh was killed ?  Who will bring his killers to justice ?”,  the sewadars questioned.

Excerpt from New York Post: 

May 25, 2007 — Two Pakistani students at a Queens high school were arrested after cutting the hair of a Sikh student during a fight in a bathroom, police said.

Another student who provided the scissors but didn’t take part in the attack at Newton HS was also arrested, police said.

Nobody was hurt in the 12:20 p.m. incident, which took place in a basement bathroom near the lunchroom.

The 15-year-old victim, who was not identified, and the Pakistani teens began insulting each other’s mothers and the anger escalated, a police source said.

The Pakistanis allegedly grabbed the victim, removed his headdress and cut his hair.

Sikhs are required by their religion to wear long hair, and police are investigating whether this was a bias crime.

Umair Ahmed, 17, and the other Pakistani, a 15-year-old boy who was charged as a juvenile, face charges of unlawful imprisonment, coercion, menacing and aggravated harassment.

Cops said charges against the 16-year-old who provided the scissors are pending.

A Department of Education spokeswoman called the incident “horrifying” and said the school will offer counseling to the victim.

Student Rani Sukhritkaur, 18, who knows Ahmed, said it was “surprising to me that he’d be involved in something like this.”

Excerpt From Zee News:

Moga, May 23: Several youth of various Sikh organisations headed by religious heads of Baba Resham Singh Khukhrana and Baba Baldev Singh of Jogewala on Tuesday took out protest march armed with swords and licensed weapons on tractor trollies raising slogans against head of Sacha Sauda Baba Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and demanding immediate arrest, sealing of their Deras and also CBI probe of Dera chiefs alleged anti Sikh activities.

After passing through the village of Khukhrana, Mahesari, Jogewala, Saphuwala, Dadahoor the protesters reached Ghalkalan, sources said.

At Ghalkalan the protesters raised provocative slogans In front of shops of “premis” or followers of Sacha Sauda. The “premis” fled away after downing shutter.

The protesters burnt an effigy of Dera Sacha Sauda chief in front of shops of “premis”.

Later, heavy police rushed to spot and persuaded the protesters to leave the village.

Police patrolling was intensified in these villages, officials said.

Times of India and other paranoid press of India has reported : 

“Pakistan has rushed to fish in troubled Punjab waters in the wake of the Sikh-Dera Sacha Sauda feud, with Babbar Khalsa International chief Wadhawa Singh Babbar, operating from Lahore under ISI patronage, seeking to stoke violence in the state.”

They state the BKI leader “has been in touch with radical elements in the Sikh community”  and that that the BKI chief  had worked on the radical Sikh priest whose Gurudwara near Talwandi Sabo in Bathinda was the catalyst for setting off the clash with the Dera…”

In other words they are openly linking Jathedar Balwant Singh Nandgarh to the BKI. Why?   First of all, blaming the ongoing dera tension on Pakistan or the BKI is easier than blaming themselves.   Secondly, it serves the interest of India’s Brahmin masters when they can destroy any competent Sikh leader by linking them to the ever-ready boogey man called “atvaad”.

Rather than doing something about the cancer of derawad (which serves the interest of the Brahmin masters) it is much more convenient to blame and “round up the usual suspects.”  There is no question that the GOI and its Brahmin masters are very uneasy and nervous about rising awareness in the Sikh masses and the unity shown by Sikh organizations over the past fews days.   Perhaps by introducing the fear of the boogey man called “atvaad” again, could be the GOI’s plan in crushing this movement by the Sikh masses.

Sikhs of Punjab :  Be ready for more arrests, detentions, and tortures all in the name of atvaad and Hindoostan.

Indian Press:

“The Dera-Sikh standoff might be heading towards a resolution. Arya Samaj Activist Swami Agnivesh and other religious leaders met Dera Chief … on Tuesday. “

Perhaps the Swami needs to first apologize for the kartootan of their Anti-Panthic founders, see below :

During the Lahore Arya Samaj anniversary celebrations in 1866, Lala Datt Arora in a speech sharply criticised Sikhism. Pertinently, he said that so what if Swami Daynand called Guru Nanak Dev Ji a fraud ! ”Swamiji had the sum of the Vedas in his hands, he touted.  He continued that “Guru Gobind Singh was not even a hundredth part like our Maharishsi Sawami Dayanand Saraswati and it is difficult to say whether the Sikhs have any religion or not, but surely they have no knowledge of any kind.” Other Arya speakers, speciafically Pandit Lekh Ram and Lala Murli Dhar rose to second Lala Guru Datt’s comments and addedctheir own words of sarcasm to the criticism of Sikh religion.

-Ref. “The Sikhs in History,” by Sangat Singh, 1995.
 
 

News reports say: 

The Akal Takht head priest Jathedar Jogender Singh Vedanti said he was willing to douse the fire if Dera Sachha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh chose the right words in his apology. “Shabd ka hi to saara mamla hai (words are at the root of it all),” he told HT in an exclusive interview inside the Golden Temple complex.

“The Akal Takht chief said he would convene a meeting of other jathedars and issue an appeal for the community’s forgiveness as soon as he received the apology. “

Press report on Punjab :

“Tuesday morning as the state observed a one-day ‘bandh’ (shutdown) on an unprecedented call by the Akal Takht, the highest temporal authority of Sikhism.”

Facist Right-wing Hindoo BJP Not Happy :

“In a statement issued here, state BJP president Rajinder Bhandari made no bones about his party being upset with the manner in which the widespread protests against the sect head had been handled last week.”

Meanwhile the Jhootta Cult reps indicated they are NOT willing to vacate the deras :

“The question of vacating deras does not arise at all,” Dera’s senior vice-chairman Prithviraj told a gathering of followers here, immediately after Sikh priests gave a fresh ultimatum to the Government to shut down all deras in the State. “